The term was coined in English law to signify the immediate transfer (Law French demise, "sending down [the line of succession]," from Latin demiss-[gender ending], the perfect participle of demittere, having the same meaning), of sovereignty and royal prerogatives to the late king or queen's successor without interregnum. By confusion, "demise" is sometimes interpreted as referring to the death of the Sovereign rather than to the transfer of the Crown. This erroneous meaning is undermined by the principle in constitutional law of the continuity of the monarchy, as expressed in the maxim "the Crown never dies".

Traditionally, the demise of the Crown resulted in the immediate dissolution of Parliament. This requirement was abolished throughout the British Empire by the Representation of the People Act 1867. A demise of the Crown no longer brings a session or a Parliament to an end. The Succession to the Crown Act 1707 provides that in the event of the demise of the Crown, Parliament, if adjourned or prorogued, must meet as soon as possible and if sitting must immediately proceed to act without any summons in the usual form.[1]

At the first meeting of Parliament under a new monarch there is no speech from the Throne. All Members of Parliament and members of the House of Lords take an oath of allegiance to the new Sovereign. The House votes an Address to the Crown in response to the official notification of the previous monarch's demise, expressing condolences upon the death of the previous monarch and loyalty to his or her successor.

All civil service and Crown offices also, traditionally, became vacant upon the demise of the Crown. As all staff were employees of the monarch, their employment would end upon the death of the monarch thus all civil servants would have to be rehired and swear out oaths to the new king or queen. The Demise of the Crown Act 1901 in the UK, and similar legislation in other Commonwealth realms, now makes this process unnecessary – they are all employees of the Crown, rather than any particular Sovereign.

The coronation of the new monarch usually occurs within eighteen months, but is not necessary to secure the succession.